Made it to Maui on Wednesday. Travels went smoothly as did my system on travel day. I think this may be my most successful traveling to date. Some residual fatigue, but the body felt good upon arrival and seems to be feeling better everyday. Once Kathy and I got into town, we got settled a bit and then headed down to the Makena race site for a light jog and swim. It seems to be warmer here this year, we both felt. I though for sure spending a week in 100+ degree weather in Phoenix would make Hawaii feel cool, but that was not the case. Even though it’s 15-20 degrees cooler here, it feels way hotter and certainly more sweaty due to the humidity. Getting acclimatized over the week will take some time. After our quick workout to get the blood flowing we hit Pita Paradise for some killer fresh fish pitas and cold beer. I am not a big beer drinker, but on certain occasions the mood can hit me. The hot, steamy weather and Pipeline Porter made with Kona Coffee struck my interest and hot the spot after a long day. Welcome to Hawaii!

READ MORE

I made it down to Arizona last Tuesday. The idea is to get out of the fall weather in Colorado and get acclimated to the heat before heading over to Maui for the Xterra World Championships on the 25th. A full week in 100 degree temps of the Arizona desert should get my blood volume up and my cooling systems working efficiently two weeks before Worlds. Another good reason for AZ training is the dry, rocky trails are similar to those found on the Hawaiian Islands. I can test my tire selection and hone my technical skills over the rough conditions. The final reason for my trip to AZ is it makes a chance for me to visit friends and family from where I grew up. I can spend some time with my dad, ride with some old buddies and get my training up to speed all in one shot!

My motivation was diminishing in Colorado with the changing of the seasons, so getting down here has provided a nice push to the finish of my season. Wednesday I headed out for a swim-bike-run combo session. I picked the middle of the day to get in the most heat exposure. I hit the pool for a 45 minute swim including some fast 100′s, two 500 pulls, and a finishing 2×200 race pace to wrap it up. I love swimming outdoors! I hit the rocky single-track trails of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and Trail 100.This is one of the trail systems I grew up on and learned how to mountain bike. The two hour ride was a blast from the past and challenging rocky romp through the desert. After the ride I headed out for an hour long trail run that turned into a 2 hour slog to the top of Piestuwa Peak, the highest point in the metro valley. I ran about three miles over to the base of the peak and decided that I should climb it since I never did when I lived here. Well it was a 30 minute power-hike up the 1.2 climb, 30 minutes back down and then 3 miles back to the car. Way more than I bargained for, but fun none-the-less.

READ MORE

The Xterra World Championship course in Maui is a notoriously tough course on equipment and bodies. The roads and trails get little use during the year. The course is littered with volcanic rock and endless up and down sections traversing the the Haleakala Volcano. Your equipment must be strong and durable to withstand the rocks, dust, and sand, that is prominent in the area. Tire selection is of utmost importance. Big fat meaty tires, with sidewall and tread protection are key. My choice: Schwalbe Nobby Nic DD in 2.25 width for the front and Schwalbe Racing Ralph DD in 2.1o size on the rear. The “DD” stands for Double Defense, with reinforcement in both the tread and side walls.

With my burly Maui bound tires installed, I hit the trails on Wednesday in Phoenix, Arizona. The loose, dry, dusty, rocky terrain of Trail 100 in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve is just the ticket to prep for the gnarly Maui course. The tire change was a noticeable difference from what I’ve been running most of the year. For Maui I am running heavily knobbed, reinforced sidewalls and tread protection tires from Schwalbe. They are substantially heavier than the light weight climbing tires I’ve been running as of late, but they are totally worth it.

READ MORE

Wednesday was HT vs. FS Bike Test, Part 2.

For this test I rode a 90 minute course that consisted of a short road warm-up, a 28 minute sustained rocky climb, and 4 mile down and up paved road connector to a 21 minute descent (with a 6 min climb in the middle) and finished with a 6 mile paved downhill back to the start. For those of you from around Denver, it is the Mt. Falcon-Lair O Bear Loop form Morrison. Same bikes, same set-ups as last week’s test.

The results speak for themselves: not a huge difference between the two bikes. Over the course of 90 minutes there was a one minute difference in favor of the FS. Suprisingly, the majority of that one minute advantage came from the climb. One caveat, however, is that I’m pretty sure I rode the second climb slightly harder than the first, in terms of powerout. The avg HR reflects this extra effort. It’s hard for me to say how much harder I rode, but it’s possible it was 30 seconds harder, so I would consider it a tie on the climb.

The HT held it’s own on the downhill section coming in only a few seconds behind over 20+ minutes. Now again, another caveat. The “downhill” did have a 6 minute climb in the middle of it. Looking back, it would have been better for me to split the section into two descents and a climb so I could see if time was being traded between bikes on the downs and ups. Oh well, this is a pretty unofficial testing process, and I’ll take it as a lesson learned for future testing.

READ MORE

Looking towards 2010, I’m trying to decide which bike to ride for next season. Most of this year I raced on a hardtail bike, while only using my FS on the few rockier courses I raced this year. I can’t decide which bike is better for me for a faster overall race time. The popular question these days seems to be which is faster, HT or FS? There are arguments for both sides, and I find myself split down the middle, so I decided to perform my own testing to see if I can determine for myself.

Here is what I’m going to do. Take three different testing days and ride both bikes back to back and record the data and perceived exertion between the two bikes. Attempt to ride varied terrain to make it fair on all types of courses. One test will be shorter laps on rolling terrain, another on a long technical climb and long descent, and the third on a longer loop with more varied terrain.

The Test Bikes: Both super fast and efficient race machines…

READ MORE

Cody Loves his Latte and so should you.  This finely crafted beverage is one of his many passions besides being on the bike.  Cody says, “It’s really all about the froth.”  Too many people RUSH their froth, leaving the final product inferior with an airy and bubbly type consistency.  Real froth should be carefully and patiently crafted, yeilding a delicate whipped cream like consistency.

Yesterday was HT vs. FS Bike Test, Part 2.

For this test I rode a 90 minute course that consisted of a short road warm-up, a 28 minute sustained rocky climb, and 4 mile down and up paved road connector to a 21 minute descent (with a 6 min climb in the middle) and finished with a 6 mile paved downhill back to the start. For those of you from around Denver, it is the Mt. Falcon-Lair O Bear Loop form Morrison. Same bikes, same set-ups as last week’s test.

The results speak for themselves: not a huge difference between the two bikes. Over the course of 90 minutes there was a one minute difference in favor of the FS. Suprisingly, the majority of that one minute advantage came from the climb. One caveat, however, is that I’m pretty sure I rode the second climb slightly harder than the first, in terms of powerout. The avg HR reflects this extra effort. It’s hard for me to say how much harder I rode, but it’s possible it was 30 seconds harder, so I would consider it a tie on the climb.

READ MORE

Last week was a recovery week. Not a whole lot training going down. Stayed active everyday, but was fairly short and easy. The plan for Worlds is this week and next to be pretty heavy in training. An increase in volume and moderate intensity on most days with a bike race on the weekends to keep some race pace fitness intact. Maui is a long, hard course and the volume (longer rides and runs) will be essential for me to feel good and able to race the distance. My race pace fitness is high from a recent peak (a week ago), so all I need to do is maintenance work in that area. So my general plan is to do four sets of long bike day/long run day/recovery day blocks over the next 12 days. Then I’ll transition to a Peak Week schedule with 10 days to go. This should be enough to allow me to race well at Maui.

READ MORE